Epiphone is proud to announce the addition of Rina Katahira to our family of artists. The Fukushima, Japan based singer-songwriter caught the attention of a nation when she won the "Special Recognition Award" at the 2011 Senko Riot Festival and has seen her career skyrocket since. Her debut album will release August 7 on the Pony Canyon label.

Epiphone President Jim Rosenberg visited our Tokyo showroom earlier this week to welcome Rina to the Epiphone family, and had this to say:

"Since our humble beginnings in 1873, Epiphone has been the instrument of choice by a countless number of musicians. This year as we celebrate our historic 140th anniversary in 2013, Epiphone is proud to add Rina Katahira to our Epiphone family of artists and we welcome her as our first official female artist in Japan. At Epiphone, we value and appreciate Japan’s long and rich musical culture and love for guitars. We look forward to working closely with Rina for many years to come as well as continuing to provide strong support for Japanese artists now and in the future."